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City of Willows · Statewide General Election

Willows City Council

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of Willows's two 4-year City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in a small Glenn County city (incorporated Jan. 16, 1886; population about 6,293 as of the 2020 Census). Willows's City Council has five at-large members serving staggered 4-year terms, and the Mayor isn't a separately elected office -- per the City's own site, the Council selects a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members.

Three candidates filed for Willows's two open City Council seats: incumbent Lorri Pride, plus non-incumbents Michelle Knight and Caitlin Ehorn. With three candidates for two seats, this is a genuinely contested race.

This person would hold one of Willows's two 4-year City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in a small Glenn County city (incorporated Jan. 16, 1886; population about 6,293 as of the 2020 Census).

Willows's City Council has five at-large members serving staggered 4-year terms, and the Mayor isn't a separately elected office -- per the City's own site, the Council selects a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members. Incumbent Richard Thomas, the City's current Vice Mayor, held the other of the two seats up this cycle but did not refile -- he's absent from the county's certified candidate roster, leaving Pride as the only sitting officeholder seeking reelection here.

A separate, unrelated Council vacancy -- Councilmember Matt Busby's seat -- was filled by Council appointment of John Lowe on Aug. 25, 2026, for a term running to November 2028. That appointment is not part of this November 2026 election; it doesn't affect either of the two seats in this contest.

Lorri Pride

Lorri Pride is an incumbent Willows Councilmember seeking reelection, confirmed as currently sitting by both the County of Glenn's own candidate-filing document and the City's own live Council roster page. No campaign-finance filing was found under her name with the county as of this pass. No further independent record of her occupation, background, or platform was found in this pass -- the county's and city's documents confirm her incumbency and name only.

Strengths

Sitting incumbent, confirmed by both the county's and the city's own official sources.

Trade-offs

No independent record of her occupation, platform, or voting record beyond her incumbency was found in this pass; no campaign-finance filing was found under her name with the county either.

Keep in mind

A bare public record beyond confirmed incumbency reflects Willows's thin local-news environment, not anything unusual about this candidate specifically.

Michelle Knight

Michelle Knight is a non-incumbent candidate for Willows City Council, confirmed as a city resident who spoke as a public commenter at a March 2026 City Council special meeting, per that meeting's own minutes. She filed FPPC Form 470 with Glenn County's Elections Department on July 30, 2026. A same-named Michelle Knight served as a Willows Unified School District trustee from at least 2014 through 2021, per that district's own public meeting minutes and local news coverage from that era -- plausible given Willows's small size, but this dataset could not independently confirm that trustee and this 2026 City Council candidate are the same person, so no connection is asserted here. No further independent record of her occupation or stated platform was found in this pass.

Strengths

Filed a campaign-finance disclosure (Form 470) with the county, and has a documented recent public-comment appearance before the sitting Council.

Trade-offs

No occupation or stated platform was found in this pass; a possible past school-board record under the same name could not be independently confirmed as the same person.

Keep in mind

If she is the same Michelle Knight who served on the Willows Unified School District board, that would be a substantial local-governance record this dataset simply couldn't verify -- worth asking about directly rather than assuming either way.

Caitlin Ehorn

Caitlin Ehorn is a non-incumbent candidate for Willows City Council. She's a Willows High School graduate (Class of 2014) and a former City of Willows Library Technician -- a paid city staff position she held at least through 2022 (per Transparent California's public-salary database, which shows a 2022 base pay of $23,896) and had left by late 2025, when a City Council agenda item referred to her as "former Library Technician." She's also spoken as a public commenter at City Council meetings, including a May 2025 regular meeting, per that meeting's own minutes. No campaign-finance filing was found under her name with the county as of this pass.

Strengths

A Willows native with direct former City staff experience (Library Technician) and a documented history of engaging with the Council as a public commenter even before running.

Trade-offs

No campaign-finance filing was found under her name with the county, though FPPC rules don't require one below a $2,000 raise/spend threshold; no stated campaign platform was found in this pass.

Keep in mind

Her former city employment is in the Library, not an area with obvious overlap to Council's core budget/land-use work -- relevant background, not a direct qualification claim.

Source review: Strong (83/100) · 9 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • countyofglenn.net (opens in a new tab)County of Glenn Elections Department -- "Candidate Watch List" page: embeds a scanned "Notice of Election" (dated Aug. 13, 2026) naming Willows's full candidate roster, plus a "Candidate Filing Status" tracking table (also updated Aug. 13, 2026) naming Lorri Pride and Richard Thomas as the cycle's incumbents.
  • countyofglenn.net (opens in a new tab)County of Glenn Elections Department -- "Campaign Disclosure Filings" page: lists a single 2026 City of Willows filing, Michelle Knight's FPPC Form 470, dated July 30, 2026 -- no filing found under Lorri Pride's or Caitlin Ehorn's name.
  • cityofwillows.org (opens in a new tab)City of Willows -- "Elections" page: "The candidate filing period for the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election has officially closed ... City Council Member (2) | Four-Year Term."
  • facebook.com (opens in a new tab)City of Willows -- official Facebook post: "The following candidates have completed the qualification process and will appear on the ballot: Michelle Knight, Caitlin Ehorn, Lorri Pride." Corroborated by the City's own Aug. 2026 email newsletter.
  • cityofwillows.org (opens in a new tab)City of Willows -- official "City Council" roster page: names the full sitting Council (Evan Hutson, Mayor; Richard Thomas, Vice Mayor; Lorri Pride, John Lowe, Gary Hansen, Council Members) and states the Council is "composed of five Councilmembers elected at-large to serve staggered four-year terms."
  • transparentcalifornia.com (opens in a new tab)Transparent California -- public-employee salary database: "Caitlin Ehorn -- Willows 2022 Salary. Library. Base Pay $23,896."
  • cityofwillows.org (opens in a new tab)City of Willows -- City Council meeting agenda (Nov. 2025): describes "Caitlin Ehorn, former Library Technician" in a Library item, confirming she'd left that city staff position by late 2025.
  • cityofwillows.org (opens in a new tab)City of Willows -- City Council Special Meeting Action Minutes, March 5, 2026: "Public Comment #3: Michelle Knight, Resident."
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Willows, California": used narrowly for the Jan. 16, 1886 incorporation date and the 2020 Census population figure (6,293).

Last updated September 2, 2026.